Effective assessment of catalytic performance is the foundation for the rational design and development of new catalysts with superior performance. The ubiquitous screening/optimization studies use reaction yields as the sole performance metric in an approach that often neglects the complexity of the catalytic system and intrinsic reactivities of the catalysts. Using an example of hydrogenation catalysis, we examine the transient behavior of catalysts that are often encountered in activation, deactivation and catalytic turnover processes. Each of these processes and the reaction environment in which they take place are gradually shown to determine the real-time catalyst speciation and the resulting kinetics of the overall catalytic reaction. As a result, the catalyst performance becomes a complex and time-dependent metric defined by multiple descriptors apart from the reaction yield. This behaviour is not limited to hydrogenation catalysis and affects various catalytic transformations. In this feature article, we discuss these catalytically relevant descriptors in an attempt to arrive at a comprehensive depiction of catalytic performance.

中文翻译：

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从动力学角度看均相催化剂的性能

有效评价催化性能是合理设计和开发性能优越的新型催化剂的基础。无处不在的筛选/优化研究使用反应产率作为唯一的性能指标，这种方法通常忽略了催化系统的复杂性和催化剂的固有反应性。我们以氢化催化为例，研究了在活化、失活和催化转换过程中经常遇到的催化剂的瞬态行为。这些过程中的每一个和它们发生的反应环境都会逐渐显示出来，以确定实时催化剂形态和整个催化反应的动力学。因此，除了反应产率之外，催化剂性能成为由多个描述符定义的复杂且随时间变化的指标。这种行为不仅限于氢化催化，还影响各种催化转化。在这篇专题文章中，我们讨论了这些与催化相关的描述符，试图全面描述催化性能。